His ‘gratitude’ post on Instagram leads to speculation about his future.
1. Aaron Rodgers wants some attention, so let’s give it to him.
The Packers quarterback (for now, at least) took to Instagram late Monday night to post a lengthy message about giving gratitude. He included a bunch of photos and talked about loving people and told everyone to read a book.
With Rodgers’s football future up in the air, people ate up the post, which, of course, is what he wanted. Now he’ll probably complain about the “wild speculation” and mock the media for being irresponsible, blah, blah blah.
We’ve seen this game from Rodgers before, so we know how it goes. It seems, based on tweets, a lot of fans are also onto Rodgers’s modus operandi.
Here were some of the best responses to Rodgers’s late-night feelings purge:
2. I haven't posted “Bad Beats” since college football ended because the college basketball bad beats don't hit quite the same way. However, this was an all-timer, so you should watch Scott Van Pelt and Stanford Steve break it all down like only they can.
3. Joel Embiid truly is a national treasure. After Ben Simmons was traded for James Harden, Embiid dropped a tweet with a picture of a random guy.
The next day, Embiid explained that he had no idea who the guy was or where the pic came from. He just liked the man's swag.
Cut to Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game, where the gentleman met Embiid.
4. I don’t know whether this is a product of writing a daily online column for 15 years, but more and more, I see things on the Internet that people fawn over and don't understand it all. The latest example is this lecture by Michigan State coach Tom Izzo on the importance of the handshake line. Everyone on Twitter is dropping the standard “must watch” and “more of this,” etc. I watched it and my thought was, you can’t really care this much about the handshake line.
5. Stephen A. Smith with a tremendous effort on yesterday’s First Take talking about the slam dunk contest.
6. The latest SI Media Podcast features New York Post sports media columnist Andrew Marchand joining me for a discussion on a variety of topics. Items covered during the podcast include NBC’s broadcast of Super Bowl LVI, the futures of Al Michaels and Troy Aikman, Rams coach Sean McVay possibly getting into broadcasting, whether Tom Brady will try to get into broadcasting, Chris Russo and Stephen A. Smith on First Take, ESPN’s deal with the ManningCast and much more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.
You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: The Yankees announced this morning that Paul O'Neill will get his number retired in Monument Park this season, so let's remember his truly outstanding Seinfeld cameo.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.